rice

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Italy's Risotto Crops Face Long-Legged Marauders

Flamingos are stirring up trouble and ravaging rice in Italy's northeast

(Newser) - An unusual pest is ravaging crops and irking farmers in northeastern Italy: the flamingo. Flocks of these relatively recent immigrants have set their hungry sights on the flooded fields that produce rice for risotto in Ferrara province, between Venice and Ravenna. The long-legged birds aren't interested in the seedlings;...

6 Americans Tried to Float Bibles, Rice Into North Korea

South Korea makes arrests in border incident

(Newser) - Six Americans were detained Friday in South Korea for trying to send 1,600 plastic bottles filled with rice, US dollars bills, and Bibles toward North Korea by sea, police said. The Americans tried to throw the bottles into the ocean from front-line Gwanghwa Island so they could float toward...

Japanese Official Resigns Over Offhand Rice Comment

Agriculture Minister Taku Eto said, 'I have never bought rice myself'

(Newser) - Japan's agriculture minister stepped down Wednesday, days after admitting he's never bought rice—an offhand remark that fueled outrage amid a national rice shortage. While speaking about farming policy on Sunday, Taku Eto noted that supporters gifted him ample rice, adding, "I have never bought rice...

A Big Deal in Japan: South Korean Rice for Sale

It's imported for the first time since 1999 due to skyrocketing prices

(Newser) - Japan's longstanding rejection of foreign-grown rice is eroding in the face of skyrocketing prices. Case in point: The Guardian reports the country has imported rice from South Korea for the first time since 1999. While the 2 tons of Korean rice shipped and sold this month represent just...

Japan Blames Tourists, Heat for Rice Shortage

Stockpile is at its lowest level this century

(Newser) - Japan's rice stockpile has fallen to its lowest level in decades and hungry tourists are partly to blame, according to the country's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries. The ministry said Tuesday that inventory in the private sector is down 20% year over year and at its lowest...

This Could Be the World's Next Fast-Food Phenom

'Onigiri,' a type of Japanese rice ball, has earned its place in the Oxford dictionary

(Newser) - The word "onigiri" became part of the Oxford English Dictionary this year, proof that the humble sticky-rice ball and mainstay of Japanese food has entered the global lexicon. The rice balls are stuffed with a variety of fillings and typically wrapped in seaweed. It's an everyday dish that...

Rice Has a Goldilocks Problem
Rice Has a Goldilocks Problem
Jan 6, 2024 3:55 PM CST

Rice Has a Goldilocks Problem

Too much or too little water hurts the crop, and changing climate is causing both conditions

(Newser) - Rice is essential to feeding the planet, but climate change is forcing farmers to adapt as heat and flooding reach extreme conditions. Per Modern Farmer , breeders and scientists are working toward that goal (an essential one to fighting hunger, with 20% of human calories consumed from rice). They write that...

Family Member Have a Baby? Hug a Bag of Rice

It's a workaround in Japan for relatives who can't visit with newborns during the pandemic

(Newser) - Congratulations, you're the proud new grandfather of a bouncing baby ... bag of rice? That's the idea behind a product created by Kome no Zoto Yoshimiya, a rice company in Japan owned by Naruo Ono. Relatives who can't visit new parents due to the pandemic will instead receive...

The $72 Fried Rice Was a Joke. People Couldn't Get Enough

'Over-the-top' dish at Vietnamese restaurant was only supposed to last 2 weeks. Everyone wanted it.

(Newser) - Late last year, in the midst of the pandemic, the chef at a new Vietnamese restaurant in San Francisco cooked up a special meal to cheer up demoralized staff: #1 Dac Biet Fried Rice, or crab fried rice with "the works." The offering at Lily ended up becoming...

North Korea Giving Its People Rice Reserved for Wartime Use

So says South Korea’s spy agency

(Newser) - North Korea is releasing emergency military rice reserves as its food shortage worsens, South Korea’s spy agency said Tuesday, with a heat wave and drought reducing the country’s supply. North Korea’s reported food problems come as its moribund economy continues to be battered by the protracted COVID-19...

Researchers Say This Is How to Cook Rice for Your Kids

New method removes the majority of the naturally occurring arsenic

(Newser) - There's naturally occurring arsenic in rice, and researchers have identified a method of cooking it that will get rid of the majority of it. In a paper published in Science of the Total Environment , researchers with the University of Sheffield's Institute for Sustainable Food tested a number of...

Big Brand on Packaging Change: 'The Time Is Right'

Mars Inc. rice brand, now to be called 'Ben's Original,' is losing Uncle Ben

(Newser) - Following in the steps of Aunt Jemima and Land O'Lakes , another major brand is about to experience an overhaul. This time around, it's Uncle Ben's rice, which is getting a new name and dropping the picture that has long appeared on the product's packaging. The updated...

China to Allow US Rice Imports for First Time
US Scores Win With
China Rice Deal
Jul 21, 2017 4:30 AM CDT

US Scores Win With China Rice Deal

Beijing to allow US imports for first time

(Newser) - A big win for the US amid troubled trade talks with China: After more than a decade of disagreement on the issue, Beijing has agreed to allow rice imports from the US for the first time, the BBC reports. Industry organization USA Rice says the deal includes strict standards to...

'Cauliflower Rice' Is Very Upsetting to Actual Rice

The mighty rice lobby is demanding the cauliflower people stop calling it 'rice'

(Newser) - "Only rice is rice, and calling 'riced vegetables' 'rice' is misleading and confusing to consumers," begins the latest agricultural throwdown, this one courtesy of the president of USA Rice. The lobbying group is understandably upset by what Quartz terms the "popularization of 'cauliflower rice'...

Scientists Say They've Found a Sixth Taste

Call it 'starchy'

(Newser) - Wondering why a bread bowl full of pasta with fries on the side sounds like it would really hit the spot right now? It could be a heretofore unknown sixth taste that a group of scientists claims to have discovered, Science Alert reports. Up until now, the five tastes humans...

Babies Fed Rice Cereal Have Far Higher Arsenic Levels

Move over rice, other grains may become more popular cereal

(Newser) - Feeding infants rice cereals as first foods is taking a new hit from researchers and organizations alike, and now a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics adds to the growing chorus that rice be scaled back or put off altogether. This is because, as researchers report, infants who are fed...

Hangover-Free Booze Is Now Supposedly a Thing

Except North Korea "invented" it, so it's probably not really a thing

(Newser) - While some North Koreans have kept busy exchanging propaganda packages with South Korea and supposedly making H-bombs , other good citizens have reportedly invented the thing the world really needs: a ginseng-derived booze that doesn't cause hangovers. Citing an article in the Pyongyang Times, CNBC notes that the brewing process...

This Cooking Method Helps Rid Rice of Arsenic

Fire up your coffeemaker, scientists say

(Newser) - High levels of arsenic in rice shouldn't scare you away, scientists say, because they've found a way to flush most of the toxin, the journal Nature notes. Researchers for the study in Plos One acquired 41 rice samples from at least a dozen countries and dumped them into...

Cooking Method Slashes Rice's Calorie Count
This Cooking Method
Slashes Rice's Calorie Count
new STUDY
Mar 26, 2015 5:20 AM CDT

This Cooking Method Slashes Rice's Calorie Count

Coconut oil, cooling could be key to cutting obesity

(Newser) - People in the world's biggest rice-eating countries are developing some of the world's biggest bellies, but chemists in Sri Lanka say they've found a way to combat obesity by dramatically cutting the calorie count in rice. The researchers say cooking rice with a small amount of coconut...

Here's How Much Arsenic Is in Rice
 Here's How Much 
 Arsenic Is in Rice 
new report
Nov 19, 2014 8:15 AM CST

Here's How Much Arsenic Is in Rice

Scientists tested 128 samples of 3 types of rice and several grains

(Newser) - After releasing a report in 2012 that left several questions unanswered, Consumer Reports yesterday released an updated report on levels of arsenic in different kinds of rice, as well as other grains. Available both online and in the January 2015 magazine, the report finds that the source and type of...

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